• Printers
• Impact
  • Daisy Wheels Printers
  • Dot-Matrix Printers
  • Line Printers
• Non-impact
  • Designjet Printers
  • Inkjet Printers
  • Laser Printers
  • Thermal Printers
• Interface

  • Bluetooth
  • Coaxial & Twinaxial
  • Ethernet
  • IEE-1394
  • Parallel
  • RS-232
  • USB
  • Wireless
• Network
• Types
  • Home Area Network
  • Local Area Network
  • Wide Area Network
• Topology
• Protocols

Local Area Network (LAN)

Computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings. However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines or radio waves. A system of LANs connected in this way is called a WAN.

Most LANs connect workstations and PCs. Each node in a LAN has its own CPU with wich it execute programs, but it also is able to acces data and devices anywhere on the LAN. This means that many users can share expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data. Users can also use the LAN to communicate with each other, by sending e-mail or engaging in chat sessions.

There are many different types of LANs ethernets being the most common for PCs. The topologies, protocols, and media, these are the characteristics that make a LAN different from one another.

This type of network is capable of transmitting data at very fast rates, much faster than data can be transmitted over a telephone line; but the distance are limited, and there is also a limit on the number of devices that can be attached to a single LAN.